The Girl and the Deadly End (Emma Griffin FBI Mystery Book 7)

by A J Rivers

  “Dad, no,” I say, the words coming out of me before I can even think them.

  “Why not?” he shouts, not taking his eyes or the gun off Jonah. “You know what he’s capable of. He’s the reason your mother is dead. He has caused countless deaths and destruction. There’s no reason for him to be on this Earth.”

  “No, there’s not,” I say, my voice level and calm in spite of myself. “But it won’t do you any good to kill him now. Make him face justice. Make him stand in a courtroom and listen to everything he’s done. Then toss him into maximum security and see how well he does,” I plead. “No more secrets. No more sweeping it under the rug. I want the truth to come out. All of it.”

  Jonah glares at me with a bloodied face.

  “I would have shot me,” he says.

  “I know you would have,” I tell him, moving closer and leaning down to bring my face close to his. “But I wasn’t raised like that.”

  Epilogue

  “We truly believed he was dead,” Dad says as we walk slowly through the house, reclaiming moments and memories we left behind. “It didn’t seem possible for anyone to survive something like that. And there was a body in the car. And we decided right then to rewrite history. I hadn’t wanted anything to do with him in a long time, and I didn’t want you growing up knowing about him. I know it was hard on your grandparents, but they agreed. We removed every reminder of him. Every indication we could that he ever existed and went on with our lives.”

  “Did I ever know him?” I ask.

  He shakes his head.

  “No. We were estranged for years before you were born. I started noticing his behavior becoming more erratic. He went off to prison for a bit. I talked to him. Tried to get him some help. But something in those years changed him. Even more than before. He started spewing disturbing, dangerous rhetoric. Destruction breeding new life. Chaos making life worth living.”

  “He’d discovered Leviathan,” I note.

  “I know that now. I’d figured it was just some prison gang he started running with. Not like this. But it was years before I started figuring that out. And when I thought he was dead, I believed that was the end of it. I just wanted us to be able to move forward. Then Natalia died.”

  “You always knew Dean was Jonah’s, didn’t you?” I ask.

  “Yes,” he nods. “But Natalia didn’t want him to know. She never wanted him to know about your mother rescuing her, or how we were trying to help her rebuild her life. She didn’t want to scare him or make him feel guilty about anything. For a few years there, she didn’t want much to do with us. Your mother worried she was going to go back to her ex, or to the same sort of lifestyle she had. But we kept an eye on her from a distance. Then she was murdered. I remember my first thought being that Jonah must have tired of her and killed her. And it was such a strange thought because by then we assumed he was dead for ten years. I think that was the first glimmer of instinct that something was not right.”

  “What about after that?”

  “I started looking into it more and digging deeper. I couldn’t find anything conclusive, but I found enough that suggested Jonah was still alive and had risen to the top of Leviathan. I still didn’t know all the details about the organization. I still don’t. But I knew enough to understand the danger it represented. I knew he was going to come after you again. I had to protect you, and I had to stop him before he spiraled out of control.”

  “So, you left me,” I say, a turbulent swell of emotions rising up in me. “Without even saying goodbye.”

  “Emma, please understand, I didn’t do it to abandon you. I didn’t want to leave you behind. What I had to do was unbelievably dangerous. I couldn’t put you in the way of that kind of harm. So I set things up for you to be safe and taken care of while I was gone.”

  “For more than ten years?”

  He sighs. “No, I didn’t think it would be anywhere near that long. So much has happened to me. You know as well as I do that going undercover can be treacherous. But carrying the face of a terrorist to try to uncover his actions brings it to a new level. I got on the wrong side of people. I ended up imprisoned and held captive. But I never stopped thinking about you.”

  “I never stopped thinking about you, either. I always knew you were going to come home,” I tell him.

  He pulls me into a hug and kisses the top of my head. As we pull apart, my phone alerts me to a message. I look down at it and smile.

  “Sam’s doing better,” I announce. “He’s requesting fried chicken and biscuits. Eric says to add coleslaw, but Sam refuses because it’s an abomination.”

  Dad tosses his head back and laughs. “You have your hands full with those two.”

  “Three,” I say. “You can’t forget about Dean.”

  All three men went to the hospital after the police came to take Anson and Jonah. Dad and I spent most of the evening filling out reports and answering questions, and by the time we got to the hospital to check on them, they were all asleep. Sam and Eric both sustained some minor injuries in an ambush but will be fine. The doctors said they were keeping Dean for observation to make sure the water hadn’t caused any lung damage he wasn’t noticing, but I’m convinced they just kept him so the other two wouldn’t feel like he was the favorite.

  “What can you tell me about Ron Murdock?” I ask as we step into the living room.

  “His name was Elliot,” Dad tells me. “He was a very important part of our lives for many years.”

  I listen as he shares memories of the man behind the title. He explains the organization of the rescue group Spice Enya and the roles each of the Murdock men played in keeping so many innocent people safe.

  “Where was he the night Mama died?” I ask. “I know he came here, but why wasn’t he with her?”

  “He was where he was supposed to be. They didn’t travel together. Your mother came back here without letting him know in time to turn around. I blamed him for a long time, and I will never forgive myself for that. He did everything to take care of your mother and keep her safe. Keep all of us safe.”

  “I hate the idea of him being in an unidentified grave,” I say. “Did he have anyone?”

  “No. That was one of the preferred qualifications of the men who took those roles. No families. It allowed them to concentrate completely on their responsibilities. They didn’t need to go home at night. I have no doubt that each one of them would have laid down their lives for the cause.”

  “Two of them did,” I say. “I’d like to do something for them.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Dad asks.

  “I’m planning on burying all of Mom’s files again.”

  “That’s the way it was done for us.”

  “I think it’s what she would want. And I think she would want Elliott and Doc with her.”

  Dad kisses me on the forehead.

  “I think she would love that,” he says in a tearful whisper.

  I step back from him and offer a wide smile to lift some of the sadness that’s settled around us.

  “What do you say we go to the water park?” I ask. “I bet they’ve added a few new slides since we were last there.”

  Wiping a tear from under his eye, Dad laughs and nods.

  “You’re on,” he smiles.

  Two hours later, after shopping for bathing suits, we’re at the old park where we used to spend lazy spring days, and I wished for the tourists to never come. I take off my flip-flops and stand on the cement. It’s February, so the heat isn’t enough to burn my toes, but the oil of the french fries still stings my lips, so I dip my mouth into my sno-cone to cool it.

  Tilting my face up to the sky, I close my eyes and feel the sun. When I look over at Dad, he’s stretched out on a lounge chair, his wet bathing suit drying as he toasts. Soon, his skin will be golden.

  A week later, Dad and I walk into the hospital near Quantico together. It’s finally time for Greg to be discharged. I’m excited to introduce him to my actual father.
Everyone else is back at my house, putting together a welcome home party to surprise him. It’s a strange place to be. Our friendship has actually improved by accepting the feelings we thought we had for each other were never real or right. But I’m glad to put it all behind me and just move forward.

  We get to the floor, and Amelia looks up at me with a slightly confused smile.

  “Did he forget something?” she asks.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh. I just figured Greg must have forgotten something when he left, and you were coming to get it for him.”

  “He left? I was supposed to be coming to get him,” I say. “When did he leave?”

  “About two hours ago. He said his ride was waiting for him. I had to bring him out in the wheelchair by policy, but he only had me bring him to the door. Then he walked right out into the parking lot.”

  I take out my phone and frantically call Greg. It goes to voicemail five times, then stops ringing altogether. Dad and I rush to the Bureau headquarters. I call Sam and the others to see if they’ve heard from him. No one knows where he is or why he left the hospital without letting any of us know.

  The sick feeling has already started in my stomach before we walk out of headquarters.

  That night we sit at the half-finished party staring at the television screen, listening to the news reporter’s emotionless voice. Watching the edge of the tide wash up on the blue tarp covering Greg’s body, where it lies broken and bloodied in the sand.

  A new image fills the screen, a security camera shot of Greg walking through the hospital parking lot with a woman.

  “If you can identify this woman or have any information, please contact your local law enforcement agency.”

  The image zooms in slightly closer, focusing on the side of a woman’s face and long blond hair. In front of her, Greg walks toward the edge of the parking lot and smiles.

  The End

  Enjoyed this Emma Griffin series? Be on the look out for more Emma Griffin adventures!

  Staying In Touch With A.J.

  Click Here now to join my mailing list and get your free copy of Edge Of The Woods.

  More Emma Griffin FBI Mysteries

  Emma Griffin’s FBI Mysteries is the new addictive best-selling series by A.J. Rivers. Make sure to get them all below!

  * * *

  Click here to order your missing copies now! Now available in paperback!